GEORGE CATLIN: AMERICAN INDIAN PORTRAITS, National Portrait Gallery

Crystal Stone, wife of the chief Blackfoot/Kainai; Buffalo Bull, a grand Pawnee warrior; and Buffalo Bulls 

Back Fat, head chief of Blood Tribe Blackfoot/Kainai, By George Catlin. Copyright: Smithsonian 

 You could say he's an Attenborough of art* and it's the free exhibition everyone must visit.

In 1830s America, a former lawyer and self-trained artist decided to devote seven years of his life to documenting a threatened and what he predicted to be a "dying" population. The American Indians (as the exhibition calls them, but also known as Native Americans) faced major challenges when a new law forced them to move from west of Mississippi River. Their migration journey was so devastating the native americans labelled it 'The Trail of Tears'. Having witnessed this, George Catlin imposed himself with a mission to record every indigenous American he met before "their passing from the face of the earth".

In total he created 500 paintings and it is the most comprehensive series of Native American portraits in existence. Titled The Indian Gallery, the portraits were displayed in the National Portrait Gallery's Egyptian Hall for the first time and it's in this same hall 75 years later that Catlin's portraits return – bear in mind there are only fifty portraits from the original collection (all currently housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum) on show.

I wouldn't say it's an exhibition of incredible painting skills; you should go to see it for the spectacle Catlin captured, for the fiery reds and oranges of that population who were succeeded by giant burgers and the Kardashian's, and for proof that a lawyer can paint and make justice in the world.

* As in the king of documentaries, not lover of animals.

Exhibition information
Name: George Catlin: American Indian Portraits
When: 7 March - 23 June 2013
Where: National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE
Room Count: approximately 4
Art Count: Over 50 portraits
Standard ticket price: free

l-r: exhibition leaflet cover, exhibition leaflet, my drawn floor plan, exhibition wall description.